To all my fellow bloggers – do you ever get so much built up that you want to write about that you just don’t know how to fit it all in?

I was overflowing with topics already on Friday, and then we had the most crazy unforgettable day, so now I just don’t even know what to do with myself.

As I mentioned on Friday, the day started with my mom coming in to tell me about the disaster in Japan. It didn’t seem worthy of mentioning then, but there was also an earthquake here that morning. It was small as always, and I didn’t even feel it…but it did wake my mom up. That was only the beginning of the craziness here in our new town.

After spending several hours that morning meticulously watching the Japan coverage, I decided to get geared up and head over to my grandparent’s to run on their treadmill. While the temperature outside could have almost been considered warm, the wind was out of control. I’ve run on some windy days, but yesterday it was gusting at over 40mph, and with soreness from yoga still lingering I just didn’t have it in me to fight it for 3.5 miles. I also thought maybe I could feed my addiction to staying current on the Japan situation since my grandma has a tv in front of her treadmill. While I was able to continue watching the coverage, the only “local” channel covering it was in spanish so I relied on the few words I know…and learned a few new as well, ha.

After my run, I gave Olive a quick bath, chatted with my grandma, and then headed back home. Around 1:30 I walked through the living room, noticing that my step-dad had the news on in the living room. At first I thought he was watching Japan as well, but quickly realized that it was something local. I soon learned that some fires had started in town and were burning just about mile from our house.

We had plans to cook dinner with some friends that night, so I started chopping some veggies in the kitchen while keeping one eye on the tv. The fires were only beginning at that point. Throughout the rest of the day, they not only kept spreading, but also news ones were popping up all over town.

I had gone to the city to meet the husband at work around 3:30, but at 4 we decided to head back to the house because the news was saying another fire had started about a mile from our house and was moving in our direction. We raced home, only to find that the main road leading into town was closed down, other cars lining the shoulder waiting to get through and firetrucks in every direction. A thick cloud of black smoke hung low over the horizon, making it appear as if the entire city was on fire. And it nearly was.

With my mom’s dog who was locked up in the house heavy on our minds, we turned and raced north of town, making a big circle around and finally getting through to our house. While helicopters flew low overhead with bags of sand dangling down, we rushed around to set up sprinklers around the house and gather important items in case we had to evacuate.

Thankfully, we never ended up having to evacuate, but much of our little town was burned, and over 30 homes were reduced to nothing but ashes. Sadly we had to cancel our dinner plans, and the rest of the night was spent with everyone a little on edge as we watched fires continue to smolder on the news.

What a tragic day it was all in all. As stressful and unnerving as the whole day was, and as much as the loss of our town weighed on my mind, I still couldn’t stop thinking about how much worse the disaster in Japan was and all the homeless and distraught people thousands of miles away as well.

Sunday morning the husband and I left early for our six mile training run. We ran down toward the area that had been burned the worst, and I could hardly believe it. There were so many houses burned completely to the ground. And we only ran by a small area. Heartbreaking.

On a brighter note, we were able to complete our six miler and we’re on track for our half marathon at the beginning of May. I’m getting so excited. I somehow managed to pause my Garmin on accident, so I don’t know exactly how long it took us, but I don’t really care that much either. Deep down I can’t help but hope for a PR for this race, but I’m going to be happy regardless. Working a total of three jobs, the husband has had a harder time keeping up with training the last few weeks, so he’s struggling a bit more on our long runs. We’ll run it side by side no matter what, though. He pulled me through the last few miles of our marathon two years ago, and if I have to do the same for him this year I will. We run as a team no matter what!

after our first half marathon

Go team McCoy! ha.

Still to come in the next few days if things settle down around here a little bit: another new restaurant we tried on Saturday that was so cool, recaps of my new yoga classes, a few eats from the last several days and a video update on our house (yay!). Ever since Friday, this weekend has been great. I really think my favorite part of it might have been our run this morning – I felt like I could have went on for miles. Either that or going to visit Olive this afternoon. I miss my baby:(

Do you prefer running alone or with a buddy?
I admire anyone who can train for a marathon without a running buddy – that takes some serious mojo.

So glad to hear you were safe from the fires. We were in Austin so I didn’t know what was going on in OK. I just kept watching the coverage on Japan. I was distraught b/c my parents were in the San Fran area but thankfully nestled behind a small mountain so they didn’t experience any of the Tsunami that Cali. had.

I’m glad your training is going so well. I wish I had a running partner but it’s hard to run with my hubby w/two kids. We do it sometimes but it seems like more work when were ordering my son around to keep him safe from oncoming cars etc.

How crazy and nervewracking that your parents were in SF. I’m so glad to hear that they’re okay!

I always think about how different our running will be once we have kids. I applaud you for making it out for a run at all…sometimes it’s hard for me to get out there and all I have to worry about is myself! Moms are awesome.